Mauritius - Saferworld

MAURITIUS 9
• All these reports must go to the district or divisional commander and he must approve the
application. From there it is then sent to the Commissioner of Police.
The Commissioner personally has the final say in approving or rejecting an application for a
firearm licence.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Mauritius Police Force is stationed at the
Police Head Office in Port Louis. The department is responsible for all investigations pertaining to
firearms, including cases involving the negligent loss or use of firearms. Investigators are divided
into four groups (A, B, C and D); each group is responsible for certain sections of the island.
Typically, fewer than ten firearm-related cases are handled by the groups per year. There are
close working relationships with all the other law enforcement sections in the police and customs
on information exchange and investigations. Where redundant or seized firearms are collected by
the police, they are registered and then destroyed by being cut into pieces and dumped in the
ocean.
The CID believe that the legislation does properly govern and control the legal possession of
firearms and serves as a deterrent to any illegal possession or misuse of firearms on the island.
Amendments have been incorporated into the Act since 1940, and currently more are being
implemented and new amendments are in the drafting process. In some instances practice does
not reflect the legislative position, for example, with regard to competency testing, which exists in
practice but is not called for in the existing legislation. The Mauritius Police Force has, nonetheless,
embarked on a review process of the current Firearms Act. The new South African legislation
has been used as a model to work from with input from the criminal record office and the
process is overseen by the Staff Officer of the National Police Commissioner.
The police are proposing the following changes to the Firearms Act:
• Sole powers are conferred to the National Commissioner to approve and reject firearm
licences, which, de facto, is already the case.
• Setting a time limit on the period in which to buy a firearm after approval to acquire a firearm
is required.
Increased licence fees.
In addition to these legislative changes, the police have identified the lack of specialised training
of their detectives in the identification and handling of firearms and explosives as a gap.